National Briefing

June 6, 2016

WEST

California: Jury Recommends DeathFor ‘Grim Sleeper’ Serial Killer

A serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” should be sentenced to death in the murders of nine women and a teenage girl over more than two decades in South Los Angeles, a jury decided on Monday. Lonnie Franklin Jr., 63, was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder last month for crimes dating back more than 30 years. A defense lawyer had asked jurors to sentence him to life without parole to hasten the healing for members of the victims’ families. Sentencing was set for Aug. 10. Most of the victims were dumped in alleys and trash bins in the impoverished area where Mr. Franklin lived. He had been called the “Grim Sleeper” because of a perceived interval in the killings, between 1988 and 2002. The authorities now believe there were killings during that period. (AP)

MIDWEST

Missouri: Family to Get TranscriptsOf Jury Work in Ferguson Shooting

The family of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was killed by a white Ferguson police officer, will get unredacted transcripts of grand jury proceedings, a federal judge said Monday. It will be the first time someone other than a prosecutor or a grand juror will see the full details of the proceedings. An order by Judge E. Richard Webber of Federal District Court requires St. Louis County prosecutors to hand over the testimony and the names of grand jury witnesses to lawyers for the family, who are pressing a wrongful-death lawsuit. The order bars the lawyers from making the information public. The grand jury’s November 2014 decision to not indict the officer, Darren Wilson, who has resigned, rekindled protests over the death. (AP)